The multifaceted metabolic syndrome is defined as a number of major metabolic disorders that enhances the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD)—still the most important cause of death in the Western world—and type 2 diabetes mellitus. It is also known as the insulin resistance syndrome, syndrome X, dysmetabolic syndrome, or the deadly quartet, and is characterized by aberrations in a wide variety of metabolic risk markers such as hyperinsulinemia, impaired glucose metabolism, elevated plasma levels of triglycerides, decreased levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), raised blood pressure, centrally distributed obesity, impaired endothelial and haemostatic function, and a low-grade inflammatory state.
Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) is characterized by fasting and postprandial hyperglycemia and relative insulin insufficiency. If left untreated, then hyperglycemia may cause long term microvascular and macrovascular complications, such as nephropathy, neuropathy, retinopathy, and atherosclerosis. This disease causes significant morbidity and mortality at considerable expense to patients, their families and society. The incidence of T2DM worldwide is now increasing at more rapid rates in Africa, Asia and South America than in Europe or the U.S. Thus, T2DM is now considered worldwide epidemic.
Oxidative stress has long been associated with the late complications of diabetes, and has been implicated in their etiology. The reactive oxygen intermediates, produced in mitochondria, peroxisomes, and the cytosol, are scavenged by cellular defending systems, including enzymatic (ex. superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase GPx, glutathione reductase and catalase) and nonenzymatic antioxidants (ex. glutathione G-SH, thioredoxin, lipoic acid, ubiquinol, albumin, uric acid, flavonoids, vitamins A, C and E, etc.). Some are located in cell membranes, others in the cytosol, and others in the blood plasma. In diabetes, an altered oxidative metabolism is a consequence either of the chronic exposure to hyperglycaemia or of the absolute or relative insulin deficit; insulin regulates several reactions involved in oxido-reductive metabolism. Despite strong experimental evidence indicating that oxidative stress may determine the onset and progression of late-diabetes complications controversy exists about whether the increased oxidative stress is merely associative rather than causal in diabetes.
Managing acute pathology of often relies on the addressing underlying pathology and symptoms of the disease. There is currently a need in the art for new compositions to treatment or delay of the onset of hyperglycemia and metabolic syndrome and its associated complications progression.